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This was the start of the only time in the
whole of the 1,000 or more years since Athelstan in 937AD when England didn't have a King or Queen.
Parliament and the King now began a civil war. A civil war is one between the people of the same country. People had to take sides. Some fought for the
King and were called Cavaliers or Royalists; others fought for Parliament and were known as Roundheads. They had different styles of dress and life. Roundheads had
short hair and round fighting helmets, which is where they got their name, and often simple, dull coloured clothes; cavaliers wore long wigs and bright clothes.
Some people didn’t agree with Charles and his way of ruling but felt that they could not fight against their King.
The war was in three stages; from 1642 until 1646 and then from 1648 until 1649 and, finally, from 1649 to 1651. By 1642 Charles was fed up with all
the discussions and a trifle upset that the MP’s had published a list of things wrong with his rule, so he popped along to Parliament to arrest 5 leading MP’s who
he thought were plotting against his wife, who was actually a Catholic. The MP’s heard he was coming, his Divine Right clumping along after his Supreme Left, and
nipped away.
War was inevitable and Charles made his base in Nottingham, raised the royal standard (or flag) and summoned all loyal subjects to join him. Now if he
had believed in premonitions he’d have given up there and then because apparently the standard blew down on the first night.
The first battle of the war, at Edgehill, was a sort of draw but then, in 1643, Parliament got together with the Scots and Charles was fighting all
over the place. In 1644 Parliament won a decisive battle at Marston Moor. From then on, the north of England was lost to Charles and his supporters.
Then, a guy called Oliver Cromwell, (more of him later – big time) established the New Model Army and crushed the royalists at Naseby in 1645. Cromwell
had been an MP and was a Puritan.
The country was being split. 10,000 Cornishmen rose up in arms for Charles I and chased parliament's few local supporters across the River Tamar.
Thus a new front in the developing English Civil War was opened, with the Cornishmen becoming some of the king's toughest soldiers.
Forward to 1646AD
